Rewards reaped for faith in Dale’s approach
EVEN an empty stadium carries an atmosphere of restlessness on occasions like Saturday afternoon, around 4.50pm.
Rochdale were trailing by three goals at that stage and a defeat similar to their last outing – the 4-1 reverse against Gillingham – looked a distinct possibility.
The fact that the home side had played fairly well – in the opposition half of the pitch at least – was perhaps most concerning of all.
Had the supporters been present, given the fact their team had only produced one victory on home soil in nine previous attempts in League One so far this season, we the press corps might well have been turning to old phrases like ‘the natives were restless.’
But that same near deserted stadium was lit up with with a tangible elation among the scattering of Rochdale representatives just an hour later!
By then, Dale had turned the game on its head, keeping faith in their front-foot approach and reaping the rewards for their brave aggression in attempting to salvage something from the match.
The second half wasn’t without scares – but even the Crewe contingent agreed by the end of play that the home side were well worth their share of the spoils.
In fairness, talk among the visiting journalists at the break was mindful of Dale’s contribution to the first half in which their side had been clinical on the break.
Early goals for the opposition had been an issue in the closing months of 202, and the problem had not magically disappeared with the turning of the year, Crewe taking the lead just six minutes into the contest. Patient build-up play from David Artell’s men saw Luke Murphy feed the ball wide to Travis Johnson on the right, and his measured delivery into the penalty area picked out Oli Finney who drove a low shot into the bottom corner of Bazunu’s net.
Stephen Humphrys gave Crewe a hearts-inthe -mouth moment when his shot from the edge of the area took a heavy deflection and looped up over wrong-footed Will Jaaskelainen, the ball dropping onto the roof of the goalkeeper’s net. Alex Newby saw another deflected attempt gathered by Jaaskelainen as Dale applied pressure in a bid to restore parity quickly.
The busy Jaaskelainen pulled off a good save to keep out Matty Done’s header after his run into the are was spotted by Matt Lund.
Newby brilliantly left Charlie Kirk for dead with a terrific piece of skill on the right-hand edge of the box – at too tight an angel to shoot he squared into the mix where Jimmy Keohane’s stab towards goal was blocked and Crewe scrambled clear.
Crewe had been on the back foot since scoring and Dale had barely been out of their opponents’ half by the 23rd minute, with the visitors having failed to serve notice of their threat on the counter attack. When the inevitable break down field came, Crewe were devastating. When a passage of Dale play broke down, Kirk intervened and raced forward down the right channel. He reached the Dale area and had options aplenty, slipping a pass to Finney, who in turn fed Owen Dale and he applied a neat finish wide of Bazunu.
Still Dale maintained their positive approach, Humphrys sprinting forward with the ball and racing past three Crewe defenders before blasting narrowly over Jaaskelainen’s crossbar.
Bazunu had barely touched the ball by the half hour stage, save retrieving it from his net on a couple of occasions, but the young goalkeeper was on hand to save Mikael Mandron’s header when he met Harry Pickering’s cross and was on target with a glancing header.
The counter attack proved fruitful for Crewe yet again in the 35th minute. A Dale corner was partially cleared and eventually dropped for Keohane to fire at goal – but when his shot was blocked the ball rebounded towards the halfway line where Mandron took it down brilliantly and spotted Kirk’s dash through the middle. Kirk once again advanced deep into the area, drew Bazunu off his line before squaring for Finney, one of two Crewe runners to reach the box ahead of their Dale counterparts, and he comfortably tucked home his second of the afternoon.
To rub salt into an ever widening wound, captain Eoghan O’Connell was injured in racing back to defend the counter attack and limped off the field.
The second half started ideally for the home side – or as ideal as it gets at 3-0 down.
Morley collected the ball on the right and had time to look up and send a beautifully delivered centre into that ‘corridor of uncertainty’ for Jaaskelainen, Humphrys seizing on indecision in the Crewe backline to get the faintest of touches to take the ball into the net.
Murphy’s pass sent Mandron in on goal for a decent chance, and despite Done’s attempts to shrug him off balance, the striker managed to get a shot away which beat Bazunu but ran across the face of goal and wide.
Jaaskelainen comfortably gathered an Ollie Rathbone shot from distance while at the other end Mandron
saw another effort beaten away by Bazunu, Kirk’s follow-up attempt blocked by Morley.
It looked as though the next goal would be critical – concede and Dale would be out of the game, score and it was game on. And score they did on the hour mark.
Beesley’s turn and shot was blocked but the striker recovered to toepoke a pass to Lund on the edge of the area and his composed side-footed finish flew beyond Jaaskelainen to make it 3-2.
There was controversy when Crewe were awarded a penalty, presumably for a handball offence following a corner – however, after consultation with his linesman, the spot kick was wiped out, with a free-kick awarded in Dale’s favour.
Back came Dale, Humphrys racing on to a through ball and, when Jaaskelainen partially cleared, Done picked up the loose ball and smashed a shot which whizzed inches wide of the upright.
Within a minute Finney had a real opportunity for his hat-trick only to be denied by a superb save from Bazunu, who then pulled off an even better save to push Owen Dale’s cross-cum-shot onto the post.
With both sides pushing for another goal the game was in the balance – and Dale gave it genuine balance when they equalised in the 84th minute. Kwadwo Baah cut in from the right and beat two men before slamming a shot towards the topo corner which Jaaskelainen palmed behind for a corner.
From the resulting spot kick, Jaaskelainen’s attempt to punch clear was weak and after a scramble the ball ran out to Lund who crashed a stunning finish into the roof of the net, sparking the loudest celebrations inside the Crown Oil Arena since March, when the club’s supporters were last here.